Revolving screen cotton cleaner and separator



OCL 17, 1933- J WALLACE 1,930,890

REVOLVING SCREEN COTTON CLEANER AND SEPARATOR Filed Feb. 3. 1932 2Sheets-Sheet l IIQffr y J "4:11am? Oct. 17, 1933. J. WALLACE 1,930,890

REVOLVING SCREEN COTTON CLEANER AND SEPARATOR Filed Feb. 3, 1932 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Jeff/g I! u allace Patented Oct. 17, 1933 UNITED STATESThe invention is an improvement upon the Revolving screen cottonseparator disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 512,363,filed January 30, 1931; and this application is a continuation-in-partof the said co-pending application.

The invention forming the subject matter of this application is a cottoncleaner and separator designed to separate cotton from air in apneumatic conveyor for feeding seed cotton from a wagon or storage binto a distributor or cleaner.

The common object of the present invention and that disclosed in thesaid co-pending application, is to provide a separator adapted todischarge a thick or thin bat of cotton from the separator to a cleaneror distributor, and in which the discharged bat will be of substantiallyuniform thickness throughout the width of the drum.

In addition to this common object, the present invention contemplates apreliminary separation of leaf trash, sand and dirt from the seed cottonpassing through the separator, by arranging the apparatus so as toprovide a dead air space in which leaf trash, sand and dirt drop ofi thescreen by gravity to be removed by a conveyor from the dead air spacethrough which the periphery of the revolving drum moves in the operationof the apparatus. This separation or cleaning has the eiiect of keepingthe revolving drum screen clean,

' so that the efficiency of the screen drum is considerably enhanced bythe removal of the fine hair lint which mats and weaves and, ordinarily,close the holes of the screen and reduce the efiiciency of theseparator.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision in theseparator casing'of a gravity actuated valve to replace the flexibletextile valve of the aforesaid co-pending application; and, in which thegravity actuated valve is made of sheet iron material shaped to increasethe efficiency of the valve and to provide for a greatly increased lifeof the valve mechanism.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the detaileddescription thereof proceeds:

Inthe drawings: I

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through a separator forming apractical embodiment of this invention;

Figure 2'is a front elevation of the separator shown in Figure 1, partsthereof being broken away and shown in section to illustrate details ofconstruction; and

PATENT OFFICE" REVOLVING SCREEN COTTON CLEANER AND SEPARATOR JeffreyJohn Wallace, Amite, La., assignor to Gullett Gin Company, Amite, La.

Application February 3, 1932. Serial No. 590,729

8 Claims. (Cl. Iii--75) Figure 3 is a fragmentary section taken on theline 3--3 of Figure 1. 7

As shown in the drawings, the invention comprises a main casing 1 whichis substantially cylindrical throughout its length. End walls 2 and 3 ofthe casing 1 are provided with bearings 4 and 5 in' which is journaled ashaft 6. A foraminous drum 7 is secured concentrically to the shaft 6 bythe spider elements 8.

The casing 1 has its end walls 2 and 3provi ded with apertures 9 and 10to form passages for the discharge of air from the interioriof the druminto pipes 11 and 12 which are suitably connected to any suction pipe(not shown) or to any other means for drawing air from the cylinderthrough said pipes 11 and 12.

The present invention is not concerned in'any way with the details ofconstruction of the suction apparatua'as this apparatus is old and wellknown in this particular art. All the present invention is concernedwith in this respect is to provide some means for applying a suctionthrough the pipes 11 and 12 to the foraminous drum so that this suctionwill cause seed cotton which may be fed to the casing 1 to pass throughthe feed pipe 14 against the periphery of the aforesaid drum. 1

The drum 7 is mounted eccentrically of the casing 1, as shown in Figure1, and the feed pipe 14, secured to the casing 1, communicates with anaperture 15 in the said casing for the purpose of admitting seed cottoninto the space between the casing and theperiphery of the drum 7. Itwill be apparent from the drawings that air is sucked through pipe 14and. aperture 15 into the sepae' rator and through the apertures 16 inthe periphery of the drum, and is discharged from the interior of thedrum throughthe openings 9 and 10 and the pipes 11 and 12 which lead tothe suction apparatus. g I

In order to direct the seed cotton onto the drum, a b aille plate'l'lextends partly across the space between the casing 1 and the drum 7; andthe space between the inner edge of the bafile plate 17 and the drum 7is occupied by a strip 18 of flexible material bolted or otherwisesuitably secured to the bafile plate 17. The distance between the innerwall of the casing 1 andthe drum '7 increases gradually from theentranee'of the discharge end thereof. Adjacent the discharge end 19 ofthe separator, there is mounted a shaft 20 on which is keyed a dofierro1ler 21 provided with radial paddles 22, each of which has a strip230: flexible material'bolted or other wise suitably secured toa radialface thereof.

. the discharge outlet 19.

. inous drum "7. To remove this leaf trash, sand terminates adjacent tothe periphery of the.

drum near its lowermost point. To close the space between the end 25 ofthe baflie. plate 24, this end has a strip 26 of flexible materialsecured thereto. The strip 26 must be of sufiicient stiffness andflexibility to insure that the free edge thereof contacts with theperiphery of the drum 7, and not only acts as a wiper but also serves toform an air tight connection between the periphery of the drum and thebattle plate 24. The baffle plate 24 is, of course, shaped so as topresent an arcuate surface 27 against which the flexible strip 23 of thedoffer roller may wipe in order to prevent backward suction of airthrough The part of the casing 1 lying between the baffle plates 17 and24 forms a dead air space 28 in which there are no air currents,although this space is connected with the suction openings 9 and 10through the perforations 16 in drum 7.

In the actual practice of this invention, it has been found that whereair is prevented from entering the dead air space 28 an amazing amountof leaf trash, sand and dirt falls from the foramand dirt, the lowerpart of the dead air space has an endless conveyor 29 revolubly mountedtherein on a bearing 30 formed in a casing 30 extending from the endwall 3, and on a bearing 31 of a casing 32 extending from wall 2.

journaled in bearings B and B formed in the opposite end walls of saidcasing C. The roller R always has two of its flexible elements F inwiping contact with the walls W and W to seal the discharge outlet D ofeasing C.

When the endless conveyor is properly constructed and mounted in the airspace 28, it sets of suggesting one of the forms of the invention whichmay be practiced inremoving this waste matter. The expression dead airspace refers to a space in which the air is not subject to agitation.Since this space 28 is constructed so that no air can enter it from theoutside, itis obvious that no current of air can be set up in saidspace. It is therefore a space in which the material drawn thereinto bythe drum is thrown oif freely by centrifugal force and falls by gravityto the conveyor at the lower part of the chamber.

To co-operate with the baffle plate 24 and prevent backward suction ofair through the discharge aperture 19, the interior of the casing 1 isprovided near its upper end with an angle iron 34 which is boltedthrough the casing 1 to one leaf 35 of a hinge, the other leaf 36 whichhas a valve plate 37 suitably secured thereto and extending into closeswinging contact at its opposite ends with the end walls 2 and 3.

The lower end of the valve plate 37 is shaped and reinforced to form anarcuate member 38 which forms a wiping surface for the flexible strips23 of the doifer roller 21. The plate 37 is hinged at a point in theupper part of the casing 1 o that the weight of its lower arcuate end 38swings the end by gravity into constant yielding wiping contact with thestrips 23 of the dofiing roller. In order to limit the inward swing ofthe plate 33 against the dofling roller and strip 23, each end wall ofthe casing 1 is provided with an angle iron stop 39 adapted to contactwith the valve plate 37 and limit its inward swing about the hingeplate.

The valve plate construction just described not only makes asubstantially air tight comiection with the casing 1 but also serves toform an air tight closure for the spaces between the paddles inc 22 ofthe doffer roller 21. At the same time, it will swing away from thedoffer roller to permit bats of different thicknesses to pass'readilyfrom the surface of the drum '7 and .over the doffer roller 21 to thedischarge outlet 19.

As in my prior invention, the discharge of the seed cotton continuouslyin a relatively thin bat, distributed along the entire length of theseparator drum, avoids the possibility of choking the separator. It alsopresents the cotton in better shape for operation by thecleaner than ispossible where the cotton is discharged from completely filled or chokeddofier rollers. It will, of course, be understood that the dcffer rollerwill be provided with paddles spaced apart so that at least two of theblades of the doffer roller are in wiping contact with the curvedportion of the part 27 of the bafile plate 24 and the curvedpart 38 ofthe valve plate 37, so as always to insure an effective air seal for thedischarge conduit.

As shown in Figure 2, the shaft 20 has a driving pulley 39 fixed theretoto be rotated by a drive belt 40 connected to any suitable source ofpower. The shaft6 is driven in the same direction to the direction ofshaft 20 by a V-belt and sheaves of suitable size, and at a peripheralrate of rotation slightly less than that of the doffer roller, in orderits ifs

to insure proper wiping action of the dofferroller on the periphery ofthe drum '7. The conveyor worm 29 may be driven by sprockets and chaingearing from shaft 20 or by any suitable driving connection to anyrotating part of the apparatus. It is shown herein as connected-by chainand sprocket to be driven by the doffer roller 21; and similar chain andsprocket mechanism M' may be used to rotate theshaft of roller R by theshaft of the conveyor 29.

While I have described my invention as embodied in concrete form and asoperating in a specific manner in accordance with the provisions of thepatent statutes, it should-be understood that I do not limit myinvention thereto, since various modifications thereof willsuggestthemselves to those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the annexedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. A cotton separator comprising a casing having a feed. inlet and adischarge outlet, a foraminous driun journaled in said casing betweensaid inlet and outlet, means for exhausting air from the upper half ofsaid drum, means adjacent said inlet and outlet to prevent admission ofair to the space enclosed by said casing adjacent the lower part of thedrum included between the inlet and outlet, mechanism operable in saidair space to withdraw waste matter therefrom, a dofling roller journaledin said casing at the outlet end thereof and provided with flexibleblades in constant wiped contact with said drum and the outlet part ofthe second named means, and a valve pivotally mounted in said casing andheld by gravity in constant wiped contact with at least two of theflexible blades of said roller.

2. In a cotton separator, a substantially cylindrical casing, aforaminous drum journaled in said casing, and partitions in said casingextending into contact with the periphery of said drum for dividing theeasing into chambers one of which is subjected to air suction and theother of which is closed to provide an unobstructed dead air spacechamber to permit waste matter adhering to the drum to fall by gravityinto said space, and mechanism operable in the dead air space chamberfor removing the waste matter therefrom.

3. In a cotton separator, a casing having a feed inlet and a dischargeoutlet, a foraminous drum journaled in said casing between the inlet andoutlet, means for sucking air from the said drum, partitions in saidcasing extending into contact with the lower part of said drum to formtherewith an unobstructed dead air space chamber, and valve mechanismforming an air tight closure for said outlet, and conveyor mechanismoperable in said space to remove waste matter therefrom.

4. In a cotton separator, a casing having a feed inlet and a dischargeoutlet, a foraminous drum journaled in said casing between the inlet andoutlet, partitions extending from said casing at the inlet and outletends thereof into wiping contact with the drum and dividing the casinginto two chambers, one of which is subject to air suction and the otherof which is closed to provide an unobstructed dead air space whereinmatter falls by gravity from the drum as it passes through said airspace, and conveyor mechanism in said air space chamber for removingmaterial from said space.

5. In a cotton separator, a casing having a feed inlet and a dischargeoutlet, a foraminous drum journaled in said casing between the inlet andoutlet, partitions extending from said casing at the inlet and outletends thereof into wiping contact with the drum and dividing the casinginto two chambers, one of which is subject to air suction and the otherof which is closed to provide an unobstructed dead air space whereinmatter falls by gravity from the drum as it passes through said airspace, a screw conveyor rotatable in said air space about an axisparallel to the axis of said drum for moving material to an outletformed in said air space chamber, said air space chamber outlet havingarcuate side walls, and means rotatable in said outlet and in contactwith said side walls for removing material delivered to said outlet bysaid conveyor.

6. In a cotton separator, a substantially cylindrical casing, aforaminous drum journaled in said casing, and partitions in said casingextending into contact with the periphery of said drum for dividing thecasing into chambers one of which is subjected to air suction and theother of which provides an unobstructed dead air space to permit wastematter adhering to the drum to fall by gravity into said space.

7. In a cotton separator, a substantially cylindrical casing having acotton feed inlet and discharge outlet, a foraminous drum journaled insaid casing, partitions extending from said casing at the inlet andoutlet ends thereof into wiping contact with said drum and dividing theeasing into two chambers one of which is subject to air suction and theother of which is closed to provide an unobstructed dead air space topermit waste matter adhering to the drum to fall by gravity as the drumpasses through said air space, and means at the discharge end of saidcasing to co-operate with said drum and the partitions at the outlet endforming a yielding air tight closure for said discharge outlet.

8. In a cotton separator, a substantially cylindrical casing having acotton feed inlet and discharge outlet, a foraminous drum journaled insaid casing, partitions extending from said casing at the inlet andoutlet ends thereof into wiping contact with said drum and dividing thecasing I:

into two chambers one of which is subject to air suction and the otherof which provides an unobstructed dead air space to permit Waste matteradhering to the drum to fall by gravity as the drum passes through saidair space, and I.

valve mechanism at the discharge outlet of said casing to form ayielding air tight closure for said outlet.

JEFFREY JOHN .WALLACE.

